News Scan

Countdown to Death Penalty: Ohio murderer, Kenneth Biros (48) has until midnight to die by lethal injection. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided to block the execution on Monday "saying Biros should be able to continue appealing a lawsuit with other inmates arguing that Ohio's method of lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment," according to an AP story by Erica Ryan. Biros still has another appeal that argues his conviction for the murder of 22-year-old Tami Engstrom, does not constitute the death penalty. The victim's sister, Debi Heiss voiced her opinion of Governor Strickland's decision to refuse clemency and uphold the lethal injection as "just absolutely beautiful" in an article over the weekend by Ed Runyan of Vindy.com. Update: The Supreme Court denied the Governor's application to vacate the stay. The AP story linked above has been revised, but it mischaracterizes the high court's action as blocking the execution, when in fact the court merely declined to lift a stay entered by a lower court.

Pay Up: Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is proposing to stop gangs through suing them for financial damages to communities according to this AP story. Delgadillo believes that "gangs would find it more difficult to operate if their cash and holdings were targeted in civil court."

Death for Death of a Child: Utah's Governor Jon Huntsman has just signed into law House Bill 93 providing that prosecutors do not have to prove intent to kill in the death of a child "during an act of abuse, sexual assault or kidnapping was intentional" in order to be sentenced to the death penalty. The full article can be found here.